The Kings did a lot of good things against the Brooklyn Nets but nothing close enough to cover for all the mistakes they made.
And there were plenty.
Sacramento committed 16 turnovers that gave the Nets 24 points, missed 11 free throws and once again did a miserable job defending the 3-point shot in Sunday’s 108-103 loss to Brooklyn.
In a game that was decided by five points, those little miscues added up to a lot of miscues and failures and ultimately decided the outcome.
That’s three consecutive losses for a Kings team that had been riding high following the beginning of De’Aaron Fox’s scoring barrage nine days ago.
Against the Nets, the problems began early and lingered throughout the night.
Brooklyn made seven 3-pointers in the first quarter and six in the second before Sacramento tightened its techniques somewhat and limited the Nets to six triples in the second half.
Kings head coach Mike Brown, who was assessed a technical foul after berating a referee over a non-call, was clearly as frustrated if not more over his squad’s inability to close out on shooters properly. It’s the fifth time an opposing team has lit up the Kings for 19 3s or more.
“Right now our level of physicality and attention to detail is not quite there,” Brown said. “There’s got to be a sense of urgency and a little bit of physicality to your game. Right now, were just easing into everything and we have to do a better job [closing out on 3-point attempts.]”
That was only the top of the iceberg.
Normally a fairly reliable team at the stripe, the Kings got to the line plenty against the Nets but made only 20 of 31 free-throw attempts.
Brown acknowledged that his ejection was partially motivated by his wanting to give the Kings some kind of spark.
“I just wanted to show our guys that, ‘Hey, we all need to fight. I’m going to try to fight, you guys try to fight and see if we can find a way to get ourselves back in the game,” Brown said.
Unfortunately for Sacramento, the Kings didn’t show much of a fight until it was too late.
Brown’s frustrations are certainly mounting, as they should be.
The Kings coach admitted that for the second consecutive game he and his staff planned to run a specific play to begin the game. They went over it with the players in the walk-through before the game and drew it up on the white board inside the locker room.
Yet when it came time to make it happen, nothing happened.
“Our mindset has to be better going into these games on both sides of the floor in order for us to not let teams feel comfortable right away,” Brown said.
That just added to a growing list of things that the Kings need to get corrected soon if they want to remain a legitimate contender in the Western Conference.
“To give up 13 made 3s the way we did in the first half, it’s tough to live with. Tough to live with,” Brown said. “On top of that we turned the ball over. Somehow, some way we have to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.
“You can’t let a team come in here and turn you over the way we did with some of our passes we made. It takes away from your ability to get a shot attempt and it gives (opponents) the advantage going the other way.”